“It feels to me,” Barnes says, “that most digital innovations are occurring outside of the publishing space, then attempting to introduce themselves to our industry, post hoc. This lack of a nuanced understanding of the problems actually facing publishers means that the apps don’t solve the right problems.“

Publishers’ lack of volition in digital product development means that when apps do hit the mark, though, they tend to be from outsiders. Reedsy is a good example of a case in which someone is solving an author’s problems better than publishers are. Blinkist takes advantage of publishers’ ignorance of their readers to disintermediate them, too.”